US President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday aimed at strengthening the country’s cybersecurity defenses following a series of attacks on private companies and federal government networks that made headlines over the past year.

The move comes after a recent ransomware attack that disrupted operations at the major US fuel pipeline Colonial Pipeline. The attack was carried out by the DarkSide ransomware group and led to widespread fuel shortages along the East Coast prompting a government response.

The executive order named “Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity” is aimed at modernizing the cybersecurity defenses of the federal government's infrastructure by taking a number of steps, including:

-Require IT (information technology) and OT (operational technology) service providers, including cloud hosting providers, to share information about cybersecurity threats and breaches that they become aware of and to remove contractual issues that prevent the sharing of such information.

-Modernize the federal government IT services, including moving towards a Zero Trust Architecture, require multi-factor authentication, encryption for data at rest and in transit, and develop strict security guidelines on the use of cloud services.

-Improve supply-chain security by developing guidelines, tools, and best practices to audit and assure that critical software is not tampered with by malicious actors in supply-chain attacks. As part of this initiative, the Federal government will create an "energy star" type of program that shows software was developed securely.

-Establish a "Cyber Safety Review Board" that includes Federal and private-sector members who will convene after a significant cyber incident to assess the attack, provide recommendations, and share relevant confidential information with law enforcement.

-Create a standardized playbook across all government agencies for responding to breaches and cyberattacks.

-Improve the detection and remediation of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and breaches on government networks by deploying a centralized Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution and intra-governmental information sharing.

“The United States faces persistent and increasingly sophisticated malicious cyber campaigns that threaten the public sector, the private sector, and ultimately the American people’s security and privacy. The Federal Government must improve its efforts to identify, deter, protect against, detect, and respond to these actions and actors,” the executive order reads. “Protecting our Nation from malicious cyber actors requires the Federal Government to partner with the private sector. The private sector must adapt to the continuously changing threat environment, ensure its products are built and operate securely, and partner with the Federal Government to foster a more secure cyberspace.”